This year I was so lucky to get to take part in a really fun food-blogger event called The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Basically- hundreds of bloggers are all paired up with 3 other bloggers and instructed to bake a dozen cookies each and send them on their way. What that means is we get to enjoy lovely bundles of cookies made with love by some of the best foodies around. It’s a very fun event that I can’t wait to do again next year!
For my swap recipe I wanted something that was super soft and chewy to begin with so that it was sure to stay that way after a few days in the mail. I also needed something flat and stackable so I could easily pack these up. This festive and chewy cookie was perfect!
The texture is almost brownie-like with crispy edges and a chewy center. The candy cane bits add the perfect minty flavor and a bit of crunch. Not only are these easy as pie to make, but I kept a few for a week or so and I was thrilled to find them just as delicious in texture. I hope the ladies I sent these to got them and enjoyed them!!
- ⅓ cup butter (2/3 a stick)
- ⅓ cup finely chopped unsweetened chocolate (2 oz/60 g)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup flour
- ¼ cup cocoa
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 3 candy canes, crushed
- In a microwaveable bowl, combine butter and unsweetened chocolate. Microwave on 50% power for 1 minute, stir, then microwave again in 30 second intervals until chocolate is mostly melted. Stir to melt the remaining chunks.
- Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle flour mixture over chocolate mixture and stir until well combined. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat. Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 to 3 inches apart.
- Bake 7 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.
- Return to oven 2-4 minutes longer, until edges are crackled and centres are just set.
- Remove and cool at least 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. (Cookies won't come off the sheet easily if they aren't cooled enough.)
Recipe adapted from: Foodess
In Katrina's Kitchen says
Chewy cookies win at life :)
Wendy says
Lucky me! I was one of the happy bloggers who received these delicious cookies. Thank you so much, Audra! They were moist and chocolatey when they arrived (three days in transit) and for several days beyond. After that there weren’t any left to test :)
Im At Home Baking says
Yumm! They look delicious and moist!
TammyJo Eckhart, PhD says
Thank you for the cookies! We shared them at our annual Christmas party but I made sure I kept two for myself. Very delicious!
Audra says
You’re so very welcome!
Betsy Honey Badger Eves says
I’m about to shovel the last cookie you made me in my mouth! SO GOOD! THANK YOU!
grandbabycakes says
This is super awesome! I seriously can’t wait to participate next year. I adore the cookies you came up with!!
tara says
Fun! What a good idea. What cookies did you get?!
Cassie | Bake Your Day says
These sound amazing, Audra! I love chewy cookies!!
Becca - Cookie Jar Treats says
Mmm. These look very fudgy and perfect for noshing on :P
Audra says
Thanks Tara! I actually haven’t gotten all my cookies yet :( But I did get some delicious peanut butter thumbprints and some mallomar cookies that were beautiful and delish!
Amy @ Elephant Eats says
These are so pretty! Love the red and green candy canes instead of just red/white :) I totally wanna be part of this cookie swap next year!!!
Bee says
Oh god these look divine! And such perfect peppermint pieces on top, they’re gorgeous!
Kayla Byers says
I have made these twice…in two days. To give away I promise! Also, I am gluten-intolerant and substituted GF flour straight across for your wheat flour and they turned out awesome! People couldn’t even tell they were GF.
Audra says
I’m so glad to hear they turned out well! Good to know that these work with GF flour!
Katie C. says
I made a batch of these the other day. My cookies were a bit larger. I got 20. I didn’t cook the first pan long enough so they stuck to the parchment. I cooked the second sheet pan an extra two minutes with better results but they still really flattened out when they cooled. Yours look like they stayed puffed. Any suggestions? Maybe cook them longer? I didn’t want to burn them and it’s hard to tell with a chocolate cookie…
Audra says
Hey Katie! Maybe next time chill your dough before scooping onto the cookie sheet. It’s hard for me to know exactly why they flattened- but chilling often helps? Yeah- big chunks tend to sink- I crushed mine pretty small :)
Katie C. says
I did chill the batter for several hours. I think next time that I am going to try an experiment. i think I will divide up the dough into four batches and try cooking them for different amounts of time. This way if I over-cook/burn some, I won’t ruin everything. I’m not used to doing this like you are but I really like these cookies. They were pretty easy to make too.
I’ve also asked Santa for more of the different sizes of those cookie scoops, so who knows?! I might actually have the correct size scoop next time!
Katie C. says
p.s. I used crushed starlight mints that I had leftover from making peppermint bark. Note: the bigger chunks sink!
p.p.s This is a great cookie. It tastes a lot like a brownie and the peppermint is lovely!